Vanthof feels changes to autism program could be harmful

Timiskaming-Cochrane MPP John Vanthof says the Ford Government’s changes to the way autism treatment is funded could do more harm than good.

Ontario is overhauling its autism program, giving funding for treatment directly to families instead of regional service providers as the government attempts to clear a waiting list of 23,000 children.

Children, Community and Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod announced that families would get funding until their child turns 18.

She says the amount of funding will depend on the length of time a child will be in the program, and support will be targeted to lower- and middle-income families.

MacLeod says a child entering the program at age two would be eligible to receive up to $140,000 for treatment, while a child entering the program at age seven would receive up to $55,000.

She says families on the waiting list can expect to receive funding within the next 18 months.

The government is also doubling the funding for five diagnostic hubs to $5.5 million a year for the next two years to address the diagnosis waiting list of 2,400 children, who currently wait on average for 31 weeks.

Vanthof says however the method of funding could actually hurt rather than help.

“The Ford government has stated that it will eliminate the wait lists for services for children within the autism spectrum. It has increased funding for evaluation centers, but the changes in how the funding is provided could actually do more harm than good. Parents will get direct funding for services, but there are caps so funding will be insufficient for children who are higher on the spectrum. Under this proposal, families who have sufficient income can continue to pay for treatment themselves, while the rest simply won’t get treatment. The Wynne government failed to address the autism issue, but Ford has created a two tier system Those who have, have, and the rest are left to suffer by the wayside.”

Parents of children with autism launched protests against the previous Liberal government in the spring of 2016 when it announced that kids over four would be cut off from funding for intensive therapy.

The province was to do away with the distinctions between Intensive Behavioural Intervention and Applied Behaviour Analysis and blend them into a service that would tailor the intensity of therapy to a child’s individual needs.

That program was not due to roll out for two years and in the meantime the government said it would stop funding IBI for kids over four, giving families of kids removed from the IBI wait list money that would have paid for, at most, a few months of therapy.

The Liberals ultimately backed down on the changes, with then-Premier Kathleen Wynne shuffling the minister out of the role and installing a new minister to roll out their new program, which proved to be much more popular with parents.

New minister Michael Coteau announced more funding, a quicker start date, no age cut-offs, and a direct funding option to allow parents to either receive funding to pay for private therapy or use government-funded services.

The changes announced by the Progressive Conservative government include establishing a new agency to help families register for the program, asses their funding eligibility, distribute the money and help them choose which services to purchase.

Clinical supervisors will have to meet program qualifications by April 1, 2021 and the government will be publishing a list of verified service providers.